noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
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Received-Pronunciation:/pəʊˌɛtɪkl̩ ˈd͡ʒʌstɪs/
General-American:/poʊˌɛtɪk(ə)l ˈd͡ʒʌstɪs/
General-American:[-ɾɪk-]
1
noun
Meaning 1
The idea that in a literary work such as a poem, virtue should be rewarded and vice punished.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: poetic justice
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
Synonym of poetic justice (“the fact of someone experiencing what they deserve for their actions, especially when this happens in an ironic manner”).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: broadly, uncountable
Qualifier: generally
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: poetic justice
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
From poetical + justice, coined by the English literary critic Thomas Rymer (c. 1643 – 1713) in the work The Tragedies of the Last Age Consider’d and Examin’d (1678): see the quotation.
Across languages
Translations
2 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Finnish:
runollinen oikeudenmukaisuus
— idea that in a literary work such as a poem, virtue should be rewarded and vice punished
Polish:
poetycka sprawiedliwość
— idea that in a literary work such as a poem, virtue should be rewarded and vice punished